LESSON PLAN: Strum Patterns
Objective
To teach students to play rhythmic patterns, which will increase their awareness of what they hear, improving their playing and making it fun.
Resources
Handouts from teachers manual on Strum Patterns, guitars, picks.
Vocabulary and Terms
Procedures
If possible, show video footage of several guitarists playing together and strumming in sync with each other. There are lots of great examples on YouTube from various concerts. Point out as students watch that everyone’s strumming hand is moving up and down together at the same time. A video of this concept in action is worth far more than words can describe.
- Ask the class to move their strumming arms up and down through the air steadily along with you while sitting with guitars in hand. While you all continue to do this count out loud “1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +”
- Using either the open strings gently muted or a chord you are introducing to the class, lead students one at a time through the rhythms on the handout (or a projection of this handout if you’ve got a projector in class). The first rhythm is a strum on each beat while the arm is moving down.
- After this feels easy for everyone and they can do it steadily, move to the second rhythm. Spend some time demonstrating for them first, that the arm strums an extra time on the “+” of 3 while the arm is moving in an upward direction. Have everyone do this with you as a group.
- Repeat this process for the 3rd rhythm which is again slightly more difficult, adding an extra strum on the “+” of 2.
- Review all 3 rhythms, playing them steadily without stopping in between. Depending on the ability of the students or how new a concept this is to them you may have them do each rhythm 4 times, twice, or just once. Eventually by working on this in classes with you they’ll be able to run through all of the rhythms on the sheet one right after another while keeping steady time!
National Core Arts Standards (Music)
Anchor Standard 4: Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation Example: General Music MU:Pr4.2.2 b.When analyzing selected music, read and perform rhythmic and melodic patterns using iconic or standard notation. Common Core Correlation: CCSS.Math.Content.3.NF.A.1 Understand a fraction 1/b as the quantity formed by 1 part when a whole is partitioned into b equal parts; understand a fraction a/b as the quantity formed by a parts of size 1/b. (fractions as subdivision of beat)